NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 16 – The Ministry of Health on Monday reported 559 coronavirus cases diagnosed from 3,074 samples.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, during a COVID-19 briefing noted the country had registered a cumulative 70,804 COVID-19 cases since March.
The new figure represents a positivity rate of 18.2 per cent three times higher than the 5 per cent World Health Organization-recommended containment threshold.
The new patients included eighteen foreigners and are distributed among 336 male and 223 females.
Highest infection rates were reported in Nairobi at 278 with Langata, Starehe, Embkasi and Kibera recording the highest number of cases at forty-two, thirty-one and twenty-four respectively.
Meru and Malindi town was listed among high-risk counties with Imenti accounting for 47 and 25 cases respectively.
Kagwe also noted an additional 478 patients had recovered including 141 who were discharged from hospitals.
The new recoveries raised the recovery toll to 45,766.
The country’s COVID-19 death toll however raises to 1,287 after 18 people succumbed to the virus within 24 hours.
November’s death toll had as of Monday risen to 274, the highest reported in a single month since the pandemic struck the country in March.
The fatalities reported so far in November include eight doctors.
The country’s fatality stands at 1,287 representing a death rate of 1.8 percent
The Health CS was speaking in where he convened a meeting with Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and National Emergency and Response Committee (NERC) to deliberate on emerging issues.
Among the resolutions made include the requirement by county NERC on COVID-19 to hold meetings and consider county-specific measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
“The committees should assess the county status of oxygen and PPEs and they should report the status including the shortcomings,” Kagwe said.
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